The men of the Carlingwood Shopping Centre, fondly referred to as Geritol Mall, can be found almost daily, in windbreakers and baseball caps mostly, camped out under the skylight across from Laura Secord.

There’s Gerry Dover, 84, who proudly ran Dover’s Hardware on Sparks Street for 37 years and Chuck Delfino, 89, of Chuck Delfino’s Clothing Store, who likes to hit the fairways for “two 18s” a week and shoots in the low 80s. Gordie Gravel, 76, former proprietor of Goodwill Ottawa Automobile, sold used cars and remains amiable and easy to talk to. He plays ice hockey several times a week with an over-70 group.

Hank Reid, 78, who has 17 grandchildren, used to run marathons, including one 100-kilometre race. Kallil Ghadie, 78, owned a couple of restaurants. He begins his day at the mall’s Y, doing a little cardio, a little weightlifting and a “look at the girls,” then heads upstairs to join the men.

A short drive away, you’ll find Brian Reynolds. It’s not his real name, he prefers anonymity, and will only say he’s in his 70s. Reynolds hangs out a couple of hours every day at a McDonald’s on Bronson Avenue, a few blocks from Chinatown, with his laptop, a newspaper and a few notes, buying and selling stock while his wife plays mahjong at the nearby Chinese Community Centre.

He likes to spend his time here alone with breakfast watching the people, or watching the screen.

“One of the pleasurable things about being here is I don’t have to debate with anyone,” he says. “I’m solitary but in a crowd. I like to feel part of the community rather than just be with old guys.”

Look around a mall, a McDonald’s or Tim Hortons and there are teams of seniors, in singles and doubles, in wheelchairs or pushing walkers, leaning on canes or guiding strollers. Or just walking. Or snoozing.

“I come to look at the women,” says Reid, from his perch in the mall near a sunglass kiosk.

The guys gather here almost daily. From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., when many punch out, pick up grandchildren or go home.

Why are they here? Why not some senior’s centre or Golden Age club?

“There’s nowhere else to go,” says Gravel, laughing. “Besides, we’re old but not that old.”

No, these fellas are not ready to hang it up. And they’re playing a role that is as old as civilization: men leaving the women at home while they drink coffee, shoot the breeze and people watch.

“It is a phenomena that is so rich and interesting and provocative,” says University of Ottawa sociology professor Diane Pacom. “The idea of older men getting together after they finish their professional life is definitely the way of dealing with aging.”

And, Pacom says, men often find there is really no place for them at home after a career of working outside it.

For this generation, born in the 1930s or early ’40s, most women ran the home and herded the children. The men trekked to factories, shops and offices, or in Gravel’s case, his car lot.

In malls or fast-food joints, it’s warm in winter and cool in summer. There are people to watch and coffee and sandwiches to down, banking to do, groceries to pick up and maybe a book and a paper. And each other.

“When we were younger, we never thought we’d end up here,” Reid says.

Says Gravel, “I never thought I was going to live to be old. It sneaks up on you.”

Reynolds, from his bench at McDonald’s, sandwich wrapper and coffee cup next to his laptop, says “Things just happen. I never imagined my wife would spend so much time playing mahjong.”

The men at the mall sit around tables strewn with empty cardboard cups, water bottles, newspapers, a small island surrounded by a babbling river of shoppers, eager to point out each other’s business successes, their athletic acumen, their robust extended families.

They’ve known each other for decades. They look after one another. If someone doesn’t show for a day or two, they call and check.

“Sometimes I fight to stay away,” says Gravel. “I don’t want to get into the habit of sitting around with a bunch of old farts and drink coffee and listen to bull—-.”

Dora Di Francescomarino of Billings Bridge Shopping Centre likes the fact that older visitors spend time at the mall relaxing and enjoying one another’s company.

“We’re a community. It’s a gathering place, a public place. We added a food court and soft seating. We wanted people to relax.”

Jason Patuano, a spokesman for McDonald’s Canada, says faux fireplaces, WiFi and soft seating added as part of the chain’s billion-dollar facelift, puts to lie the idea that they want you in and out as quick as possible.

“When people are meeting (at a McDonald’s) every day, it’s probably their favourite part of the day. It’s an honour.”

But the University of Ottawa’s Pacom cautions about the broader implications of seniors being vacuumed into malls and fast-food restaurants. The church basements and bingo halls of the past have been replaced by commercial centres that can decide to ask you to leave if your presence is not profitable.

“Society is not ready for the elderly,” says Pacom. “They are living longer and they are healthier and they need a legitimate place in society. There is nothing out there for them.”

Now the men of the Geritol Mall might agree with Pacom. But they are there, maybe even today, under the skylight, watching the world, and the girls, go by.

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